SOUTH ROYALTON — Two Vermont Law School students will focus on environmental justice this summer.

They were awarded fellowships to work with Vermont Energy Investment Corporation, or VEIC, and the New York attorney general’s office, the law school announced Friday.

Sylvia J.S. Bartell and Ashley Welsch were selected for the school’s competitive Rubin Fellowships, awarded in memory of Zander Rubin, founding director of the South Royalton Legal Clinic.

The fellowships fund summer employment for students to work on behalf of clients who are disadvantaged or traditionally under-represented.

Bartell will work in VEIC’s legal department, researching regulatory and statutory requirements as they apply to Efficiency Vermont/VEIC programs and policies.

She said she is motivated by the burden that steep energy costs place on low-income families.

Welsch said she plans to use her internship with the New York attorney general’s office to bring positive change in environmental enforcement and compliance. She will work in the office’s Environmental Protection Bureau in Buffalo.

“Several of the cases I’m working on have a strong environmental justice component because they involve underrepresented groups,” Welsch said.

The Rubin Fellowship selection committee is comprised of representatives from the South Royalton Legal Clinic, Vermont Legal Aid and the Vermont attorney general’s office, as well as Rubin’s widow, social worker Ruth Rubin.

For more information about the Rubin Fellowship or other public interest opportunities at Vermont Law School, call James May at 831-1500 or email him at jmay@vermontlaw.edu.

For more information about energy and environmental law and policy programs at VLS, visit www.vermontlaw.edu.